You really should read the entire document, but I would like to highlight the end, which clearly states my position dead-on:
“Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.”
The bold emphasis is mine of course, but clearly states where I personally am in all of this. I understand that if the government chooses to impose more taxes on me to fund their programs, than I am morally and ethically bound to abide by those when I submit to the leadership of my country. I also understand that all people in this glorious country of mine have the right to choose paths that I don't agree with. I don't however, have to agree with them and should not be required to support them with my tax dollars if they are unethical. I cannot support something that is in complete opposition to what my Lord and Savior calls me to protect. Life is sacred, Marriage is sacred and I will not go against that very basic principle. I think this is why its such a volatile issue in this country. In today's America however, this traditional view is falling by the wayside as our government intervenes more and more in our lives to equalize society. Much of this is done in the name of tolerance.
Tolerance in the Miriam Webster dictionary is defined as: a sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own. In today's political climate we are told that tolerance means that all individual beliefs, lifestyles and truth claims are of equal value. This simply is NOT true. This kind of tolerance condemns discernment and says you need to accept all truth claims and lifestyles as if they were your own. Its asking you to make your worldview one that accepts every kind of thinking and all other worldviews. Yet this new type of tolerance goes beyond just respecting other worldviews. It also demands that I not impose my worldview on anyone else. It means that I will be labeled intolerant for attempting to share Christ with others. I must abandon my worldview because it is socially offensive, while Buddhists, New Agers and Hindus, etc., do not have to because their faiths are all-inclusive. In the past we were taught to study opposing truths and evaluate them. Now we are to study and appreciate them; no deep thought required.
As the political climate changes it has gone beyond being asked to tolerate these views. Now we are being asked to support them monetarily through taxation. This is where I feel compelled, like many other Americans, to draw a line in the sand. The Manhattan Declaration is just one of many attempts by conservatives to stand up to what I would like to label as oppression. For so many years we turned the other cheek as the morality of our nation started to fall. But no longer. We must stand before its too late. "If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all." Isaiah 7:9 NIV
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